With trembling hands, Khushi pulled the scrunched up piece of paper out of her purse and laid it down on her desk. She looked up once again towards Arnav but he was busy and she decided to read the letter, which could either ruin her life or pull it together.
Khushi,
I am not sure where to start. Should I start by apologizing for what I did to you? Or should I thank you for everything you gave me so selflessly? I don't know.
I see you almost every day Khushi. Sometime's when you walk into the building, sometimes when you go grab lunch and you have no idea how much it hurts to see Arnav at your side when I knew it could have been me. It should have been me. There was no question to that. So how could I have been so stupid to throw it all away? I know you probably ask yourself that question too. How could I have given up all that in a split second?
I didn't do it on purpose Khushi. I was tricked into it. On the morning of our wedding, I got a message from some girl and she told me she was pregnant with our child. I had no idea who this girl was so I thought she was bluffing but as I messaged her back telling her she had the wrong person, she told me she met me on my stag. She knew everything about you and threatened to create a scene at our wedding if I didn't meet her.
I panicked and that was my mistake. I should have told someone what was happening but I didn't know what to do. I knew she was lying and I should have told someone but I lost the ability to think at that time and I ran away like a coward. At that point, I couldn't imagine hurting mine and your family's reputation, but I guess, I did it regardless. I don't know what I expected from you. Maybe you would wait for me? Maybe you would try to find me before marrying someone else? Given me a chance to explain everything before throwing me out of your life?
The Khushi I knew would have done that. She would have demanded answers. The strong headed, independent Khushi that I knew wouldn't have signed her life away to my best friend! To a man she didn't really know or love. My Khushi would have waited- not to accept me back into her life, but atleast to clear everything up before moving on. We had put three years of our life to build this relationship Khushi and I guess it all got chucked away like some garbage.
I left the mandap that day and went to meet this girl. Just to clear everything up. I could have waited to deal with it all till the wedding was over; I could have just told you all about it after that, but I didn't. Your respect means a lot to me Khushi and I would have never done that to you.
However, the girl never showed up and at that point I realized it was all a ploy. This girl had your phone number and all the details about our wedding. How could she have got all that? She must have got all that information from somewhere; more like from someone that knew all the details and was with me on my stag. Who would have not wanted us to get married? Who would benefit from keeping you and me apart?
I won't say more than that. You're a smart girl Khushi and I leave that to you to figure out.
Her fingers shook as she put the letter down, her mind in chaos. She read it twice more to make sure she didn't miss anything and her heart constricted thinking about the possibilities. How did her simple life become so dramatic?
Karan had supposedly been tricked, in not marrying her. Shyam, on the other hand was trying to scare her about something she wasn't too sure about. Her husband had just told her the night before that he was in love with her. Too much had occurred overnight and the next second, her stomach churned and she put a hand over her mouth, dashing towards the bathrooms.
Arnav was busy marketing a new clothing when he saw a dash of red fly by the conference room and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was Khushi. Barking at Aman to take over, he ran out of the conference room but his feet halted in the corridor when he didn't see anyone. He ran to her office just to confirm it was her and when he didn't find her there, he ran towards the elevators but stopped when he heard someone throwing up in the bathrooms.
"Khushi?" he whispered and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Anyone in there?" he yelled once before he barged in. She was in one of the stalls, leaning over the toilet, puking her lungs out. Her body shook and her eyes watered as she held onto the toilet to keep herself steady but when she felt she couldn't hold on any longer, her hands slipped and before she could fall back and hit her head against the stall door, a pair of strong arms came around her and held her in place.
"It's ok... It's ok..." he repeatedly whispered while she doubled over again. He kneeled down behind her and pulled her into his lap, his one arm around her waist while the other pulled her hair back from her face, rubbing her back. Absolutely drained, her body shook and realizing that she was done, Arnav picked her up and took her to the sink to help her clean up. As she shakily rinsed her mouth and splashed water on her face, he seated her on the counter next to the sink and making sure she was ok, he ran back to his office to grab a toothbrush and some mouth wash. She looked up at him shockingly, wondering why he had all this in his office and he explained to her that he always kept extras on him as sometimes his nights would run too late at work.
When she finally found some strength, she decided to step down from the counter, but Arnav was too fast for her. He lifted her off the counter and walked out of the bathroom, down the corridors and she thought she would die of embarrassment as the whole office curiously looked at them.
"What!" he barked when he noticed a few employees standing around and the next second, everyone scurried away to resume their tasks. Placing her on the couch in his office, he called reception and ordered some gingerale. Dropping to his knees in front of her, he touched her forehead to see if she was ok and when his shaky hand moved from her forehead down to her neck, she grabbed his hand.
"I am ok... probably just ate too much yesterday... you should go back to your meeting... thank you" she smiled up at him and the murderous look in his eyes threw her off.
"Your sick! Puking your lungs out! And you want to me go back into some stupid conference!" he yelled and looking at the scared expression on her face, he felt like punching something, anything.
"I am sorry... so sorry... I just panicked when I saw you running like that and I just ...." his thoughts were interrupted with the knocking at the door.
Kneeling down beside her, he made her drink some of the gingerale and thought back to what she had eaten all day. Nothing really, he realized. Some toast in the morning and now this Starbucks. Looking up at her, he asked her if she thought she needed to see a doctor and that he could take her to the hospital.
"No!" she almost yelled and he looked at her weirdly.
"I don't need a doctor. Am fine. Maybe just too much espresso in my coffee or something" she smiled at him, hoping he would drop the topic to go see a doctor. The last thing she needed right now was to bump into Karan. Her life was becoming a wreck and she was in no mood to purposely walk into hell right now.
Assuring him that she was fine, she got up and walked back into her office, as his concerned eyes followed her every move. Knowing it was better to call it a day; he cancelled his meetings and walked into her office, to see her staring at a piece of paper intently. He walked up closer and realized it was written by hand.
"What's that?" he asked and she jumped off the chair. Nervously gulping, she folded the piece of paper and shoved it in her purse.
"It was just my to-do list. I thought I'll check to see what I need to do next" she replied while getting up and moving towards the filing cabinet.
"It's time to call it a day. Let's go." And as he moved forward to hold her arm, she turned around abruptly, anger flaring in her eyes.
"I said I am fine! What part of that is hard to understand! Maybe the food from last night didn't settle in too well so I threw it up. Doesn't mean we have to pack our bags and leave. Go finish your appointments and let me do my stuff" she replied angrily, while moving away from him. Without a word, he walked out of her office and slammed the door shut behind him.
Grabbing her head in her hands, she sat back down in her chair and silently wept. Too much was going on in this simple life of hers. Her thoughts wandered back to Karan's letter and she was too scared to even think about who would benefit from throwing Karan out of her life and who would benefit from having her. There was only one person that fit that description: her husband.
Arnav marched down 32 flights of stairs, trying to control his anger. He was just worried for her. Was that too much? Yes he understood that maybe she wasn't as comfortable around him as he was but what the f***! He swore madly and realized that this was their first fight ever. What was she so angry about? He knew she was very independent and liked doing things on her own but it wouldn't kill her if she would loosen up a little and let him help her! He now stood on the main floor and wondered what the hell he was doing there. Pissed at himself some more, he realized he needed to let this energy out so he decided to walk up the 32 flights of stairs to get back to his office. Hopefully by then, his energy would be drained.
Arnav walked back into his office and slammed the door shut and Khushi jerked from the noise. She looked up and noticed him walk towards the window and look outside. He was breathing heavily and his fists were clenched tightly, ready to break something. Would this man do something so cheap just to marry her? She didn't believe so. He was a man in control of his emotions and he wouldn't put Karan's family and her own family's reputation at stake like that. Maybe Karan was just bluffing but why would Karan do that? He knew she would never go back to him. Didn't matter how long they were together or how they had felt, Karan was fully aware of the fact that she would never give him another chance. Her ego was too big for that.
But then, it didn't make sense if Karan was lying. The Karan who had probably saved hundreds of lives would never ruin her life like that. She couldn't have mistaken his love for her and she didn't think he was cruel enough to destroy all three lives unless he knew something that she wasn't aware of. There was only one way to find out the answer and she decided to get it before she changed her mind.
Taking a deep breath, Khushi walked into his office and the second she tried to open her mouth, he stormed past her, leaving her all alone standing in the middle of the room. Furious at herself for even trying to talk to him, she grabbed her purse and walked out of the office to get some fresh air. She needed to think straight. Just because Karan implied something, didn't mean it was true. She slowly walked down the street, feeling absolutely drained. She dazedly crossed a few set of lights and turned the corner when she realized that she had entered a dark alley. She was about to turn around and walk away, when she noticed two men standing in the corner mumbling something and she was about to ignore them and move on, when one of the men turned and she almost stopped breathing. It was the same guy who had held the knife to her back and he was holding a small package with some white stuff in it. Drugs, of course. She wasn't shocked to see that but when her eyes moved up to the other person, her knees almost gave away.
Jeejaji?
She didn't think she had said that out loud but the next second, the same cold eyes from this morning bore into hers. She almost ran but bumped into a rock hard chest and she screamed as loud as she could.
"Khushi... it's me Arnav" he told her, slightly shaking her till she opened her eyes. Her eyes flooded with relief and the next second, she jumped and looped her arms around his neck, clinging onto his back.
"Oh my god... thank god..." she whispered over and over and Arnav looked behind her to see if something had scared her, but there was nothing there.
"Khushi ... what happened? Look at me... what's wrong? Why did you run out like that?" he asked and she just shook her head in a no, holding onto him for her dear life. She slowly looked behind herself, but there was nothing. No trace of anybody even being there and she wondered if she had just imagined it all.
"Did you see anybody running away?" she mumbled into his neck and when he didn't understand, she repeated it again. When he replied in a no, she told him she had seen the same guy that had stabbed her and he pulled her away from him and looked into her eyes. Asking her where she had seen him, he grabbed her hand and walked down the alley to see if anyone was there, but there was nobody. He walked around and looked in the adjacent parking lot, nothing.
He walked her out of the alley towards the parking lot and drove home. His anger had vanished the second his receptionist had told him that Khushi had angrily walked out of the office and he had ran out to go find her as he figured that she was probably too weak to be walking around . He walked her into the house and when Nani and Anjali had seen her drained face, they realized that something was wrong. Both ladies ran around- Anjali trying to give her some medication while Nani put a pot on the stove to make some in-home remedies.
After getting fussed over, Khushi sat on their bed, waiting to talk to him when Arnav came back in with some toast and juice.
"You should have this. You're probably low on sugar" and she almost laughed at the irony. Her sugar levels seemed to have dropped after vomiting whereas her husband's seemed to always stay up without any sugar. She grabbed the plate from his hand and put it away and motioned for him to grab her purse. She took out the dreaded piece of paper and stared at it.
"Ok, you DO NOT need to do anything on that to-do list of yours right now. I am sure it can wait till tomorrow" and he almost grabbed the paper out of her hand. She shook her head in a no and when she noticed his nose starting to flare again, she pushed the piece of paper infront of him, motioning for him to read it.
His face drained color as he started reading the letter and he almost gave it back to her after reading the first few sentences, realizing who it was from. When she shook her head in a no, he went back to reading it and a sense of dread filled him with each word. Before, he reached the end, he knew where this was going and by the time he finished it, he looked up at her tear filled eyes and before he could say anything, she put her finger on his lips to stop him.
"Did you?" she whispered and she prayed to all her Gods that it wasn't him. She lived through after what Karan did to her, but would she be able to go through another deceit? She wasn't sure. Her eyes searched his while he looked at the different emotions on her face.
"No."
She let out a long breath and closed her eyes in relief. She knew she didn't have to ask more than that. If anything, Arnav would have told her the truth either way. If he did have something to do with breaking her marriage, she had given him the perfect opportunity to explain but his eyes never lied. Whatever he couldn't explain in words, his eyes did.
"I would never do that Khushi, not even to an enemy whereas Karan was like my brother. Yes I was attracted to you; perhaps from the first time I saw you but that didn't mean I was going to go ruin his life." She stared at him, a little shocked that he had thought of her that way before.
He moved closer to her and draped an arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head against his shoulder. This was all she needed- until Arnav was with her, she could fight against everything in the world and whether it was Shyam or Karan. She looked up at him and at the same time, he looked down and their noses brushed.
"I love you" he whispered before he brushed his lips against hers and stopped. He repeated the motion, waiting for a response from her. This time, he wanted her to initiate things. She knew how he felt about her but she never told him what she wanted. Resting his forehead against hers, he tried to control his breathing. He needed to control himself a little more but he wasn't sure how he was going to pull that off. His wish came true when he felt her hands slowly slide up his neck and rest in his hair. Her large brown eyes stared up at him. She gulped noticing his desire filled eyes but the next second, her heart swelled looking at the control of this man, who had become her everything.
Screw Karan
Screw Shyam
"Kiss me" she whispered against his lips and he obliged.
Pinki